Systems and methods herein generally relate to document security and more specifically to identification of an original item using ultraviolet light which reveals hidden security printing features.
Security printing features are elements of the document that may not appear in the original but do appear in a copy of the original, which allows the holder to recognize that they do not possess the original document. For example, the security printing features may reveal “copy” or “void” in a copy of an original. Such printing is a popular anti-counterfeiting and anti-forging method to protect valuable documents such as prescriptions and concert tickets.
In one example, pantographs, which may for example appear gray on the original and show the word VOID when copied, are printed in the original and such pantographs cause copies to include identifying marks or text indicating that the copy is not the original. However, differences in these patterns are generally too small to be seen by human without magnification, and therefore the different patterns simply appear as a shaded area of an original. When the original is copied, the scanner interprets these different patterns differently, which causes the patterns to be printed differently on the copy, and this produces some form of pantograph or other mark on the copy that is easily seen by a human without magnification.
However, while this may easily identify a copy, it does not allow an original to be positively identified. Specifically, marks that show on an original can often be copied on a standard office copier, and such a mark may incorrectly indicate that a copy is an original.